An owner of property in Iron and Ashland counties that was the site of a contentious proposal to mine iron ore is trying to resurrect plans for the mine, an Iron County economic development official said.

Officials of La Pointe Iron Co., one of the owners of the property that Gogebic Taconite unsuccessfully sought to develop as a massive open pit mine, met with local representatives in Hurley on Wednesday to discuss reviving the plans.

Kelly Klein, director of development for the Iron County Development Zone, said he and others met with La Pointe representatives, who told them they are eager to find another developer for the site.

With Kohl's out, city considers options on downtown buildings

With Kohl's Corp. announcing it won't be moving downtown, Milwaukee officials face a decision on two buildings that a city affiliate controls through purchase options.

The former Palomar condos sales center, 520 W. McKinley Ave., and a storage building, at 1300 N. 4th St., operated by C. Coakley Relocation Systems, were optioned to help accommodate two parking structures that would have been built for Kohl's employees.

The city Redevelopment Authority spent $100,000 on options for the two properties, Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux said.

If Kohl's had moved downtown, the Palomar building would have sold for $925,000, and the Coakley building would have sold for $2.3 million, Marcoux said at last week's meeting of the Common Council's Steering and Rules Committee.

Marcoux and Mayor Tom Barrett spoke to the committee after Ald. Bob Bauman asked for a public hearing on the Barrett administration's attempt to attract Kohl's. Bauman has criticized the secrecy that surrounded those efforts.

If the city decides to buy the properties--something that would require council approval--the $50,000 paid for each option would be applied to each separate purchase price. If the properties aren't purchased, the money used to secure the options cannot be recovered.

Also, Milwaukee Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit business lender affiliated with the city, formed an investors group which bought the Sydney Hih Building, at 300-318 W. Juneau Ave., as part of the city-county effort to land Kohl's.

That purchase was made for $769,000. The vacant, deteriorating building is to be demolished to make way for future development--even without Kohl's coming to the Park East strip, Marcoux said.

Marcoux said he went through MEDC to keep news of the Sydney Hih purchase private for as long as possible to avoid generating competing bids.

Also, Kohl's executives asked city officials to keep their dealings with the company confidential.

MEDC made the Sydney Hih purchase with cash reserves. The council will be asked to compensate the agency for the purchase.

Commercial Real Estate News

For decades, Brookfield's Blue Mound Road has been the Milwaukee area's busiest retail corridor, extending westward from its anchor at Brookfield Square mall to Barker Road.

Now, that landscape is changing, with five major retail projects under construction — including Brookfield Square's latest redevelopment phase, and the Von Maur department store-anchored retail center known as The Corners.

Blue Mound Road features dozens of shopping centers and stand-alone retail buildings on the three-mile stretch between Moorland and Barker Roads. Those buildings have long enjoyed high occupancy rates, said Bruce Westling, principal at NAI MLG Commercial and a veteran retail leasing broker.(13)